Operating attachment for printing-machines.



0. P. RICHARDSON.

OPERATING ATTACHMENT FOR PRINTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION TILED JULY 17 1912.

Int/em 607 Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

UNITED strArEs PATENT oFFioE.

CHARLES F. RICHARDSON, OF WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO BOSTON AUTOMATIC MACHINE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

Application filed July 17, 1912. Serial No. 710,040.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, C'rmnnns F. RICHARD- SON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of WVoonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Attachments for Printing-VIachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines or apparatus for making printed or stamped impressions upon sheets, cards or slips, and specifically to machines for applying printed indorsements on bank checks.

The invention consists in an attachment for a machine or apparatus of this sort designed to set the printing means in operation and to govern its action in such a way as to render impossible the passage of a check through the machine without being stamped and to control the position of the stamp or printed impression on the check.

In practical working out, the invention may have several various forms, one of which is shown in the annexed drawings.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one type of printing or stamping machine showing one possible embodiment of my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, on a larger scale, of the mechanism involved in the invention. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the same mechanism, showing also a part of the machine to which it is applied. Fig. 1 is a plan view of the stop pawl.

Like reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

In the particular printing machine to which my invention is applied, the impression is made by a printing plate or types carried by a printing cylinder with which cooperates an impression roll 2. The articles to be printed, which, with the machine shown, are bank checks, are dropped into a hopper 6 having converging front and rear walls 7 and 8, respectively, by which they are guided in a gravity feed to the rolls 1 and 2. The course of these walls is clearly shown in Fig. 1. On the shaft 9 which carries the printing roll there is loosely mounted a pulley 1O maintained in constant rotation by a driving belt 11. This pulley has a clutch element which is here a circular series of teeth 12 concentric with the pulley. A complemental clutch member is provided in a lever 13 adapted to engage any one of the teeth 12. Lever 13 is pivoted at 15 to a plate 16 non-rotatively secured on the shaft 9, and 1s acted on by a spring (not shown) in such a way that a force is constantly exerted tending to move it toward the teeth 12. The clutch is normally held disconnected by a stop pawl 17, having a cam portion 18 and a shoulder 19, but when released from such stop pawl it is caused by the spring to engage one of the teeth 12 and to be rotated by the latter in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1, that is, in clockwise rotation (with respect to said figure). The stop pawl 17 has a pivoting lug 20 extending toward and bent down beside the frame of the machine, which is mounted on a pin or stud 21 fastened to such frame. A shaft 22, which I call the starter shaft, carries arms 23, which rise back of the rear hopper wall 8 and carry on their ends a plate 24 which I term a starter plate.

The parts above described are substantially the same as corresponding parts of a machine shown in the application of Morgan and Richardson, Serial No. 611,496, filed February 28, 1911, to which reference may be made for a fuller description.

Secured to the starter shaft 22 is a depending arm 25 connected pivotally by a pin 26 with a lever 27 pivoted at 28 to the frame of the machine. The connection by the pin 26 between arm 25 and lever 27 may be a sliding one in order to permit free swinging movement of said arm and lever about such widely separated points as the shaft 22 and pivot 28. For instance the pin 26 may pass through a slot 25 in the arm 25 to be suitably fastened in the lever 27. Said lever rises beside an extension 29 of stop pawl 17, and carries a pivotally mounted dog 30 overlying said extension, and having a tail or foot 31 beside a hump or cam rise 32 on the extension. A spring is mounted on the lever and acts on a part of the dog 30 so as to hold the latter hard against a stop 34. A spring 35 is so engaged with the machine and the arm 25 as to hold the arm normally in the position shown 'in the drawings, the starter plate being as far forward as it is permitted by the hopper to go, and the foot 31 of the dog being just in front of the cam hump. A spring 36 acts on the stop pawl to hold it with its stop shoulder 19 in the path of the clutch member 13 and its cam hump in the path of the said foot 31.

In operation the operator picks up a check and places it in the -hopper,and in the same motion of the hand with which he does this, pushes back the starter plate. This action rotates the starter shaft 22 and swings the arm 25 forward, that is, to the left (with respect to Fig. 1) stretches the spring 35, and swings the lever 27 clockwise about its pivot 28, carrying the dog 30 back over the cam hump 32. Said dog is permitted to yield in passing backward over the hump, owing to the position of the stop pin 34:, and so does not then displace the stop pawl in the slightest. On release of the starter plate, which occurs when the operator withdraws his hand, the spring 35 returns the parts to normal position, and in so doing again carries the dog over the hump. But this time the pin 34 prevents the dog fromyielding, and so the cam hump is momentarily depressed, and that arm of the stop pawl which carries the stop shoulder 19 is quickly raised and lowered. Instantly upon the rise of this arm the clutch 13 engages one of the teeth 12, and is thereupon driven through a rotation by the pulley 10 until it again strikes incline 18 of the stop pawl, when it is disengaged and stopped.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the printing mechanism is not actuated when the operator first moves the starting device, but its actuation is deferred until the latter is returning to, and has practically reached, its former position. That is, the operator can not set the printing mechanism into operation upon, the instant that the check is deposited in the hopper, but only after lapse of an appreciable period of time. This period may be as brief as a fraction of a second, but it is sufficient to allow the check, impelled by gravity, to travel to the printing coupleand be stopped thereby in position to receive the impression at the desired point before the printing couple operates, and it is unaffected by the speed at which the motivemechanism runs.

I have found that there is an opportunity with stamping machines as heretofore made, particularly when the nxoving parts travel at high speed, for the printing couple to be set in motion too soon, causing the printed impression to be applied in the wrong place or so to run over the edge of the check that only a partof'it appears, or even causing the check to pass without being printed at all. My attachment makes these results impossible, as it insures that no checks will be skipped and fail to receive the in dorsement, and that the entire stamp will contact with the check wholly between the two opposite edges of the check at the desired point between the ends. The time which elapses between the placing of the check in the hopper and the starting of the printing couple does not reduce the amount of work which the machine can perform, because even with this slight delay in starting the printing couple, its revolution is completed and it is again stopped in a shorter time than that required for the operator to pick up and deposit a second check.

It may be said that the object and effect sought by my invention is to compel delay in starting up the printing member until a check has reached the position it must occupy to receive the printed impression properly and to avoid being passed through without being printed at all or with only a part of the impression appearing. This object is accomplished through the improvement hereinbefore described in the starting mechanism, whereby the connection of the driving clutch is merely commenced by the manually produced movement of the starter and is not made complete until the operator takes his hand away after moving it. Thus, no matter how careless or hasty the operator may be, no premature setting in motion of the printing n'ember can occur. In this way a saving in operation is made possible because unskilled and immature operators maybe employed to run the machine; while at the same time the quality of the work performed is improved. Not only are the results secured perfect in spite of careless operation, but they are so regardless of the speed at which the machine is run, which speed may therefore be varied within wide limits without harm. It is therefore unnecessary to provide any speed governor or regulator, and the speed of the printing couple may be made great enough to eject the checks forcibly without endangering the accuracy of placement of the impression.

I claim:

1. The combination with an operating device, of means arranged to conduct'an ar-. ticle to be acted upon thereto, means for actuating said device, including a normally inoperative clutch, a manually operated starting element movable back and forth for making said clutch operative, and means for delaying coupling of the clutch until return of the starting element to its original position, and until the article has been conducted to said operating device.

2. A printing apparatus, including an operating means, means for conducting articles to be acted upon to said operating means, a normally disconnected clutch for imparting motion to said operating means, and a starting device adjacent to said conducting means movable manually in one direction and automatically returned in the opposite direction, said device being arranged to effect connection of the clutch on its return, and after lapse of sufficient time to permit travel of the article to the operating means.

3. A machine, including an operating device, means for conducting articles to be acted upon thereto, a normally disconnected driver for imparting motion to said device, a manually operated starting device for causing connection of said driver, and means for causing such connection to take place at a time subsequent to the manual operation of said starting device, whereby the article is enabled to pass to the operating device before the latter is set in motion.

i. A machine comprising an operating device, a depository for articles to be acted upon thereby having means for conducting such articles to said device, a normally disconnected driver for setting the device in motion, a manually operable starting device adjacent to the said depository, and means for delaying the coupling of the driver until the article has reached the device.

5. In a machine of the character de scribed, an operating element, a normally disconnected driver for actuating said element, means for conducting articles to be operated upon to said operating element, a starting device for connectingsaid driver and operating element together constructed and arranged to have a plurality of movements in its normal operation action and to pause between such movements for a period of time approximately sufiicient to enable an article which has been placed in said conducting means to be brought to the operating element, said starting device being also constructed and arranged to effect connection between the driver and operating element after such pause.

6. In a machine of the character described, an operating member normally stationary, a normally disconnected driver for imparting movement to said member, means for conducting articles to be acted upon to said member, a starting device arranged for actuation by the hand of the operator in the movement of placing an article to be acted upon in such conducting means, and means for causing the connection of the driver to be accomplished through said starting device at a point of time subsequent to the manual operation thereof.

7. A printing apparatus comprising a normally stationary printing couple, a constantly moving driver for said couple normally disconnected therefrom, a depository for articles to be marked arranged to con duct such articles to said printing couple, and a starting device arranged in proximity to said. depository for connecting said driver and printing couple together, said starting device being constructed and arranged to cause such connection after a delay sufficient to permit the article to pass to the printing couple.

8. A machine of the character described comprising a printing member, a depository for articles to be printed constructed and arranged to conduct such articles automatically to said printing member, a driver for said printing member, a normally disconnected clutch for connecting said driver and printing member together, a starter mounted for manual actuation in one direction adjacent to said depository, automatic yieldable means for moving said starter in the opposite direction and mechanism with respect to which said starter is adapted to move inoperatively on its first described movement, constructed and arranged to be so moved as to permit connection of the clutch by the starter in its second described movement.

9. A machine of the character described comprising an operating member, a depository for articles to be acted upon arranged to conduct such articles to said member, a driver for said member disconnected therefrom, a clutch for connecting said driver and member together, a stop device normally holding said clutch in disconnected condition, a starter movable in difi'erent directions, and mechanism operated by said starter and arranged to move inoperatively with respect to said stop during the first movement of the starter from its normal position of rest, and further constructed to displace said stop upon movement of the starter in another direction, whereby a delay in the connection of the clutch is caused sulficient to permit passage of the article to the operating member.

10. A machine of the character described comprising an operating member, a driver for said member normally disconnected therefrom, a clutch for connecting said driver and member together, a displaceable stop normally holding said clutch in inoperative position, a depository for articles to be acted upon arranged to conduct such articles to the operating member, a start ing mechanism including an operating member adjacent to said depository whereby it starting mechanism whereby it displaces 10 may be moved by the hand Which places the the stop and permits connection of the articles in such depository said starting clutch.

mechanism being movable in opposite direc- In testimony whereof I have affixed my tions including also a dog engaging said signature, in presence of tWo Witnesses. stop, said dog being arranged to yield With- CHARLES F. RICHARDSON. out moving the stop upon the first movement Witnesses:

of the starting mechanism, and being held ROY J SOULER,

rigidly upon a subsequent movement of the CHARLES L. WARNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latenta',

' Washington, D. G. 

